Favorite Schools

Favorite Teams

Alabama

Change Region

comments

Justin Boston fastest in qualifying for Saturday's ARCA Mobile 200

practice 12.jpg

The cars driven by Anderson Bowen (77) and Justin Boston race into Turn 3 during ARCA Racing Series practice at Mobile International Speedway in Irvington, Ala., on Friday, March 21, 2014. Boston will start from the pole position and Bowen will roll off third in Saturday’s ARCA Mobile 200. (Mark Inabinett/minabinett@al.com)

IRVINGTON, Alabama - Justin Boston backed up his top speed of practice by earning the pole position on Friday night for the ARCA Mobile 200 at Mobile International Speedway. Boston wheeled the No. 25 ZLOOP Computer and Electronics Recycling Toyota around the half-mile oval in 17.694 seconds on Mosquito Patch Pole Night, and he'll start on the inside of the front row when the cars roll off at 2 p.m. Saturday for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards event.

Boston finished sixth in last year's ARCA Mobile 200 on his way to winning the series' Rookie of the Year Award. He earned his third pole award in 23 ARCA races.

View full sizeJustin Boston accepts the Menards Pole Award presented by Ansell from Kerry Allen, territory manager with Ansell, after he turned in the fastest qualifying lap for the ARCA Mobile 200 at Mobile International Speedway in Irvington, Ala., on Friday, March 21, 2014. (Courtesy of ARCA Racing Series)

"It seems like we get the hang of these places when we come back the second time," Boston said. "We were up to speed when we came down here for testing (on March 10). I can't say enough about (crew chief) Kevin Reed and everybody at Venturini Motorsports for putting this race car together. It makes me look really good. It's been a really solid start to our weekend here today."

As with his first trip to Mobile, Boston is back with the same setup as last year driving with Venturini Motorsports. He expects to be a contender for the season championship in 2014, but he started the year with a 40th-place finish at Daytona when he was involved in an accident.

"We came down here for one reason and that's to win the race and get back in championship contention after what happened at Daytona," Boston said. "It was definitely a shame what happened there. We had a really good car and a really good team, and wherever we go this year we expect to have a shot to win."

Boston, a 24-year-old from Baltimore, turned in a speed of 101.729 mph on his qualifying lap. During Friday's second practice, Boston had the only car that topped 100 mph. In qualifying, five cars did.

Mason Mitchell, a 19-year-old from West Des Moines, Iowa, will join Boston on the front row after qualifying at 100.649 mph.

Last year as a 15-year-old at the ARCA Mobile 200, Anderson Bowen of Suwanee, Ga., started from the third position and finished in the third position. After a qualifying lap of 100.514 mph, Bowen will start from the third position again on Saturday, which will be a busy day for him. He's also scheduled to drive in the Hardee's Rattler 250 at South Alabama Speedway. That race, the opener of the Southern Super Series season, was rained out on Sunday and rescheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday.

Bowen will roll off beside the winner of last year's race, Grant Enfinger of Fairhope, who qualified at 100.407 mph.

Austin Wayne Self, an 18-year-old from Austin, Texas, was the first driver to break 18 seconds in qualifying. He'll start fifth at 100.273 mph.

Starting in the sixth through 10th spots will be Tom Hessert, Brian Finney, Cody Coughlin, Michael Self and Kyle Benjamin, respectively. Benjamin finished second in last year's race. Bowen, Austin Wayne Self and Hessert drive cars prepared by Cunningham Motorsports, giving the team three of the top six qualifiers.

In the 11th through 20th positions will be Spencer Gallagher, John Wes Townley, Frank Kimmel, Michael Lira, Matt Tifft, Darin Matthews, Thomas "Moose" Praytor, Dustin Knowles, Maryeve Dufault and James Swanson, respectively. Matthews is from Pascagoula, Praytor is from Mobile and Knowles is from Trussville. Tifft had engine problems in the second practice session on Friday afternoon. His crew worked hard between practice and qualifying to make the needed repairs on the No. 52 Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet that belongs to former NASCAR driver Ken Schrader. Tifft missed his original spot in the qualifying lineup, but made the final run of the night and added some excitement by doing a 360 coming out of Turn 2 on his second lap, otherwise he might have started better than 15th.

The final six starting positions went to Joey Gattina, Mark Meunier, Dave Savicki, Tim Viens, Darrell Basham and Karl Weber. Gattina is from Alabaster.

Meunier, Savicki, Viens and Basham did not make qualifying runs, accepting provisionals into the field, which will include 25 or 26 cars. Weber's car went up in smoke during the first practice session and did not try to qualify, and it appeared doubtful his car would be in Saturday's race.

Five drivers will be competing in the ARCA Mobile 200 for the third time - Enfinger, Gallagher, Hessert, Kimmel and Praytor,

Michael Self, Coughlin, Knowles and Gattina will make their ARCA Racing Series debuts on Saturday.

Thirty cars were on the entry list, but four never made it to the track.

Cale Gale won the first ARCA Mobile 200 in 2012 from the ninth starting position. Enfinger rolled off second on his way to winning last year's race.

"With the double-file restarts we have now, it's definitely going to play into our advantage starting up front," Boston said. "On the double-file restarts, you want to be down on the bottom. When you come to the short tracks, you want to be able to pick where you start. I think it's definitely doing to be advantageous."

The Mobile Sports Authority On-Track Driver Autograph Session will be held from noon to 1 p.m. Saturday before driver introductions at 1:30 and the race's green flag at 2.